Images

One of the most common long-horned bees in the Mid-Atlantic. Often confused with M. agilis and it is not at all clear how to tell the males apart. Oh, this is Melissodes trinodis. A lover of composites. Photo by Erick Hernandez.

A hind foot of a Melissodes trinodis, but....what is on the end of that foot? I will tell you, Pilgrim, those are pollinia from Common Milkweed. Here are 3 paired sets, having glued themselves to the bee when it accidentally stuck its foot in one the 5-compartmented florets that comprise a milkweed flower.

Cranberry lover from Georgia. This is a classic example of a bee whose range is restricted by the pollen it needs to feed its young.

Melitta haemorrhoidalis, Red-butted Campanula Lover, specimen collected by R.C.L. Perkins in Wotton-under-Edge, EnglandMelitta is the Greek word for bee, and the name of the favorite activity indulged in by the authors "“ melittology "“ is based upon this. Melitta bees are specialists.

There are 6 families of bees in North America. The bee here Melitta melittoides is member of Melittidae. Melittidae has only 2 genera of bees in the East. Most of them are highly specialized. Our friend here is a Lyonia (maleberry) specialist. In the face shot of the female...check out the size of those mandibles.

Maryland

Looks just like a "bee" does it not? Not super sexy, pretty plain really. But so very interesting. This is Melitta melittoides. A very uncommon bee. Uncommon because it only feeds its babies the pollen from Lyonia (Fetterbush, Staggerbush if you will).

An all African. This small species was captured in South Africa by Laurence Packer's lab. Often this species has multiple males and females using the same nest, though apparently not dividing up the labor, but simply finding some advantage of living together rather than nesting in the ground separately.

Hey now here is a common bee from Kruger National Park, Meliturgula scriptifrons. A smallish brown bee that are commonly caught in bowl traps. Part of the small number of genera in Andrenidae. Photo by Kelly Graninger.

Swamp sparrow, Washington D.C., Fall or spring 2012, died striking building downtown, collected by lightsoutdc with permits

Here we have the nest parasite of one of Puerto Rico's Centris bees. Its lays its eggs in the nests of the host, kills the hosts egg or young and eats the stores. Taxonomically its not clear what this species is but it appears to be close to (aff. = affiliated with) M. rufipes. Perhaps you, dear reader, will figure that out.

The foot of the American Mink: Neovison vison. A lovely male freshly killed where a stream crosses the road in the progenitor of all suburbs: Bowie, Maryland. All sorts of things exist in these seeming wastelands.

This is a 10X detail of the wing of Mirina fenzeli, and odd moth from China. It is a plainish white moth but has a super dark spot (one edge is illustrated here) which sucks in almost all light (and therefore is hard to photograph) the scales are up right rather than flattened and the surround white scales are very dissected and spikey...cool.

From Acadia National Park, comes a nest parasites of Megachilidae. Picture taken by Haegan Ahmed and Photoshop by Dejen Mengis. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Bee Balm. Good for a spicy summer drink and hummingbird and bee forage the rest of the time. Specimen and photograph by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Funaria hygrometrica, identified by Charlie Davis, found in crack in stone deck of laboratory building; Beltsville, Maryland

Unknown species of moth collected during moth week in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

The Venus Comb Murex, Murex pecten. From the Philiipines in this case. This is a start of a fun exploration of some of the National Collections at the Smithsonian....Amanda Robinson brought this down for a photograph and Joe Milone did the photoshoping. Stacked this one using a 100mm macro lens.

Adult female, Harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica, a common pest of brassicas, these were raised by the Weber USDA lab at Beltsville, Maryland

Great Basin National Park. Still processing photos from our big survey of bees of U.S. parks. In this case, there was a lovely mutillid wasp, (velvet ant) in the sample. Oddly the female's hair color shifted between the shots....Not clear why.

Here is a short 3 picture series of 3 Mylabris blister beetles from Kruger National Park, where they are often found on tree flowers. I had the unfortunate experience of storing a bunch of these in my pocket while in the bush. Later that night my upper thigh was covered in large blisters. Be warned.